Portable lighting has become a useful tool that is apparent in all aspects of daily life. Portable lights have typically utilized incandescent or halogen bulbs. More recently, manufacturers have found a cheaper, safer, and longer lasting alternative with fluorescent lamps. For this reason, fluorescent lighting has been incorporated into the portable lighting industry.
In recent years, low wattage accent lighting has become popular in home decorating. In one form of this accent lighting, fluorescent lighting units are mounted to provide lighting for cabinets, artwork, displays, and workshops. It is important that the lighting units of this general type have a low profile so that they will be concealed from view when mounted to the downwardly facing surface of a cabinet for example.
Most fluorescent lighting units are mounted in the ceiling or to a stationary object. These lighting units typically include a housing, a lamp, a diffuser cover, and a lamp assembly. In most designs, the ballast is mounted above the lamp to convert and supply power. The diffuser cover attaches to the housing providing protection for the lamp and the interior of the lighting unit. The positioning of the ballast makes it difficult to install or remove the lighting unit because access to the mounting fasteners usually requires the removal of the diffuser cover, lamp, and the ballast. In addition, the positioning of the ballast above the lamp forces the user to remove the lamp in a downward motion during replacement, creating a greater risk that the lamp will accidentally be dropped.
Many designs of these lighting units have big, bulky enclosures that cover the lamp, often called diffuser covers. The diffuser covers are made of a hard, rigid plastic or similar material that is not flexible. This lack of flexibility makes replacement and maintenance of the lighting units difficult because sufficient hand strength is needed to remove the diffuser cover from the lighting unit. The inflexible material creates a risk of danger because someone without the proper hand strength might resort to prying or pulling the diffuser cover, resulting in injury to them or the diffuser cover.
Accent lighting typically incorporates the use of multiple lighting units. The problem most often encountered is that each lighting unit requires a separate power source. This makes the positioning of lighting units difficult and cumbersome because each lighting unit must be positioned by a power outlet or connected by lengthy extension cords.
For the reasons described above, there remains a need for a portable mounting light unit that allows for easy and safe removal, mounting, lamp replacement, diffuser cover removal and replacement, and unit-to-unit interconnection with the ability to custom fit each interconnecting cord.
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide a portable mounting light unit that provides easy access to the mounting fasteners allowing for quick and simple installation and removal.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide a portable mounting light unit with a lighting assembly that has the ballast mounted from behind the lamp, thereby allowing for easy gripping and removal of the lamp.
It is still another advantage of the present invention to provide a portable mounting light unit that provides a flexible diffuser cover with flexible latches to allow easy installation and removal of the diffuser cover.
Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a portable mounting light unit that allows unit-to-unit interconnection with the ability to custom fit each interconnecting cord.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is to provide a portable mounting light unit that is safe, compact, and simple-to-use.
In an exemplary embodiment, the portable mounting light unit comprises a housing having a mounting surface, at least two insulation displacement connectors mounted at diametrically opposite portions of the housing adjacent to the mounting surface, a lamp assembly mounted within the housing, a diffuser cover, and at least one fastener access for attaching the housing to the supporting structure.
The housing is elongated in shape with a top portion and a bottom portion that are secured together by a plurality of fastening screws. The housing is preferably be made of a lightweight, durable plastic, or other similar material. The housing has a recess for placement of the lamp assembly, and diffuser cover. The recess has at least one fastener access in the back corners of the housing. The fastener access is in the shape of an angular notch. The fastener access has a plurality of fastener openings that allow the portable mounting light unit to be mounted to almost any surface with the use of screws or other fastening means. A benefit of the fastener access is to provide enough room for the insertion of a human thumb or finger to allow the easy installation and maintenance of the lamp while the portable mounting light unit is mounted. In addition, the fastener access provides for the insertion of a screwdriver or other fastening device allowing the portable mounting light unit to be moved and remounted without having to remove the lamp.
The lamp assembly is mounted in the interior of the housing. The lamp assembly includes a ballast, a lamp, and a plurality of sockets for receiving and supporting the lamp. The ballast is positioned directly behind the lamp. The placement of the ballast behind the lamp is an important advantage in overcoming a long-time problem. Most ballasts are located directly above the lamp so that when the lamp is removed, the lamp falls in a downward direction creating a risk of injury if the lamp is not property gripped. When the lamp is removed with ballast positioned behind the lamp, the lamp is removed in a forward direction allowing for easy gripping and reducing the risk of dropping the lamp.
Additionally, the ballast in this positioning shields the lamp so that the portable mounting unit can be placed under the rim of a cabinet and direct the light against the splash for indirect lighting, thereby providing forward illumination, as compared to most commercial designs where the ballast is above the lamp so the lamp is exposed on three sides providing less effective illumination in the desired direction.
The lamp is a fluorescent tube type, preferably a tri-phosphor fluorescent tube which uses less energy and lasts longer. The spectrum emitted from fluorescent lamps is very close to natural light which is desired when used for accent lighting. The plurality of sockets for receiving and supporting the lamp slightly protrude from the interior of the recess. The lamp is inserted into the sockets with the lamp pins parallel to the sockets. The lamp is secured in position by twisting the lamp until the lamp pins are perpendicular with the sockets.
The diffuser cover is parabolic in shape and is attached over the lamp assembly. The diffuser cover protects the lamp from damage while also reducing glare and evenly distributing light. The diffuser cover will preferably be made of a flexible, light transmitting plastic or other similar material. Flexible latches protrude from the inside edges allowing the diffuser cover to be attached to the housing by snapping the flexible latches into recessed slots located near the top of the housing. The flexible latches will preferably be located directly over the fastener openings. The flexible latches allow for easy installation and removal of the diffuser cover without the need for a significant amount of hand strength, as compared to most typical diffuser covers which are a hard plastic and require a significant amount of hand strength to remove.
One unique feature of the portable mounting light unit is the provision for unit-to-unit interconnection. Unit-to-unit interconnection is possible due to at least two insulation displacement connectors (IDC""s) mounted diametrically opposite portions of the housing adjacent to the mounting surface. The IDC""s comprise of a recess, a plurality of insertion prongs, and a removable slide cover. The frictional engagement feature of the IDC""s allow for an electrical cord to be locked into the recess. The electrical cord is inserted into the recess and then bent 90xc2x0. The electrical cord is then attached to the insertion prongs which penetrate the electrical cord casing and make contact with the electrical conductors. The removable slide cover is slide over the electrical cord until it locks into place. The electrical cord that connects between each portable mounting light unit can be custom fit, thereby eliminating the problem of tangled, sagging, or excessively long electrical cords. A manually actuable switch can be mounted on the housing for controlling the lamp assembly. Each portable mounting light unit can be independently controlled by the use of their own switch. A power cord can be used solely for controlling power to the portable mounting light unit.